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Woodfibre LNG announced Tuesday it will use electricity to power cooling compressors for its proposed $1.6 billion liquefied natural gas plant near Squamish.

The use of BC Hydro electricity, instead of natural gas, will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80 per cent as well as other smog pollutants, according to the company, a subsidiary of Indonesian billionaire Sukanto Tanoto’s company Royal Golden Eagle.

Although electricity is more expensive than gas, the decision was a direct response to public concerns, said Woodfibre LNG vice-president corporate affairs Byng Giraud.

“It’s the biggest thing that came up in community consultations,” said Giraud. “As a company coming for the first time into North America, and into British Columbia, it’s very sensitive to social licence issues.”

Giraud would not say exactly how much more the project would cost because of the power choice.

The proposed plant is to be built at a former pulp mill site near Squamish that is tied to the Hydro grid, but the LNG plant would use more power than the pulp mill, noted Giraud.

The project still needs provincial and federal approval, but the company hopes to make a final investment decision next year and begin operating in 2017.

The project is among more than a dozen LNG plants proposed in the province, mostly in northern B.C.

Industry observers expect only one or two plants to be built, and critics have zeroed in on carbon and other pollution emissions and increases in hydraulic fracturing, also known as fracking, for gas.

Clean Energy Canada said although it would prefer to see renewable energy developed, if LNG is going to come to B.C., then using electricity is a better alternative than powering compressors with natural gas, a fossil fuel.

Woodfibre LNG is off to a good start with its power decision, although they sill need buy-in from First Nations and to pass environmental reviews, said Clean Energy Canada director Merran Smith.

“This sets a standard that others need to follow,” said Smith, referring to other LNG projects and the B.C. government, which has pledged to create the cleanest LNG industry in the world.

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